Red Wings defenseman: I think Bettman's an idiot

Nov. 17, 2012
|

"Their offers are just so ridiculous, said Detroit defenseman Ian White, above, about the NHL owners and Commissioner Gary Bettman. "They're trying to take everything that we have away from us." / Tim Fuller, US Presswire

This is the third time during Bettman's tenure there has been a lockout. The last time around, it ended up costing the entire 2004-05 season.

"If you think of all the moves he's made," White said, "teams that are all struggling seem to be the teams that he put in places where there's not viable markets for hockey. Three work stoppages - I don't know if he's in control of the owners or what he's saying, but I think it's only seven of the owners that have to agree on something to have something pass. You'd think it'd be at least 50%. It just doesn't seem like they're running a democratic process, if you will."

The league and the players have been at odds since Sept. 16, when owners locked out players. The latest rumor to emerge Thursday evening was that Bettman and Co. have told NHLPA executive director Don Fehr there should be a two-week moratorium on negotiations. That takes the process to the end of November, meaning that it's only a matter of time before games in December will be canceled.

"The whole process has just been frustrating," White said. "I think, just where we stand now, you'd think that we're close to making a deal if they're willing to come a little bit our way. It's something that could have been done even in the summer. So it's frustrating. There's just absolutely no need to be missing games and doing this kind of damage."

Players just missed their third paycheck. If the league is hoping financial pressure will work to stir an uprising against Fehr, White said there's no chance.

"We're fully behind him," White said. "I don't even know if it would really matter who's leading us at this point. Their offers are just so ridiculous. They're trying to take everything that we have away from us. They haven't even put out an offer we could consider in terms of the rights and taking away our contractual stuff .... . We're behind our leader. I know he's going to do the best for us. But it's on the owners to at least be somewhat fair."

The sides started out at odds over how to split hockey-related revenue from what was a $3.3-billion business last season. While there has been progress on that note, there's deep division over how to make sure existing contracts are fully honored by owners, as opposed to instituting a salary rollback as in 2005.

Players, meanwhile, want to know why they should be the ones to suffer after owners such as Minnesota's Craig Leopold handed out front-loaded $98-million, 13-year deals to Ryan Suter and Zach Parise during the summer.

"This thing seems like it's just so ridiculous - what we're fighting over, what we're asking, what they're trying to get," White said. "Obviously, I'm biased towards the players, but you look at our last offer - I mean, we've agreed to come down to 50-50. Why should we have five-year limits on contracts and stuff when these are the owners that are throwing all this money out, they're signing these guys to long-term deals, they're trying to circumvent the system that they put in place last time? So they're going to blame that on us? I mean, why can't these guys act like adults and control themselves?"

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall sounded an optimistic note that there will still be a 2012-13 season. He conceded a two-week quiet period "just doesn't make sense. You'd think you'd want to make sure you're doing everything you can to get something done." But asked whether he senses that the season might be in danger, Kronwall said, "No. I can't imagine it going that far. But again, I didn't see this coming, either. I thought we were going to have everything locked up by the end of the summer."

With Thanksgiving just a week away, heralding the nearness of December, the state of the NHL is beyond aggravating to White.

"It looks awful," he said. "Every day I take a look - you look at the calendar, and then you look at the position, and nothing has really changed. It's getting pretty close to being tragic."